Who Wants a Familiar?

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard it. Someone has a lovely cat, dog, rabbit...hell, even an iguana!....and referred to them as 'their familiar.'

We've seen it in movies. We've seen it with our own eyes, and even referred to our cherished pets as familiars. I have, and I'm sure you have... Once I learned, I stopped.

Do you KNOW what the function of a familiar IS?

Once you know, you might want to rethink calling that precocious little imp that wakes you up because its hungry...a familiar.

In the original sense, a familiar wasn't a cuddly pet. Yes, it may support your magickal workings. It may have a second sense of when it shouldn't go near a working. But here's the catch: many animals can sense the energy of what magic you do. Bean is the only of my three cats who has a curiosity about any of my workings. He sits patiently beside me - and for a change, he isn't trying to bother what's on the table. Normally? He'd look me straight in the eyes, and take a paw and knock something off - for the sheer delight of it. (he's rotten that way, and I love him for it.) Or he'd paw at the cloth on the table, and get stuck in it.

When I'm doing a working? He sits peacefully alongside, paying attention, as if taking part. Something in him innately knows better than to knock THOSE rocks, candles or shells, or anything OFF the table. Or for that matter, to saunter into the middle of it, to inspect them, which would be completely in character for him. (He likes when I crochet, quilt or make jewelry. Lots to play with!) With magical things, he somehow manages to refrain, as if he has a second sense about it. I'm pretty sure it boils down to some animals can sense the energy, and some (like my cat Doodlebug) don't really give a rat's patootie, and just avoids the area, preferring to nap somewhere and get belly rubs later when I'm finished.

A familiar in the traditional sense, not only aids your magickal workings...they take a hit for you. Read that bit again. They take a hit for you. It's the job of a familiar.

What exactly does that mean?

We hear all the time that magic you perform might 'backfire.' All magic has consequences - be they good consequences, or bad, which would be 'backfiring.' No judgement here, but that goes double for baneful magic, where you might be defending yourself, or your family or your business or someone you care about from what you perceive to be harmful magic being performed against you or them. If you have a familiar that is identified as such....familiars can suffer the consequences of your backfires instead of you. And if someone's got a grudge against you, and is using magick against you? The familiar might take the hit. That's why witches in the past HAD familiars. Better that bad happens to the animal than you. It's better to NOT be emotionally tied to a familiar. How wrecked were you the last time one of your family pets (whether you referred to it as your familiar or not) crossed the rainbow bridge, and died? I don't know about you, but I was gutted when my cat Jordy died.

"Jordy Verrill", aka "Jordykitty" and "fuzzy butt."

Now....imagine that rotten little murder muffin that knows when you're sad or hurting and offers comfort passing away because someone sent you bad juju, or worse still, something you did backfired, and that chaotic furball suffered the consequences FOR you. THAT's why you want your familiar - should you choose to employ one - to NOT be something you innately love and cherish.

Once I learned THAT little tidbit, I stopped referring to Bean or any of my critters as familiars. It would wreck me to think that something I did could've caused harm, injury or worse to them. Bean still shows up whenever I'm doing something magical. He's like that, and I love that he DOES it! But if anything else, he's merely there as an observer. Hell, maybe he even sees himself as a participant! Some animals will always be more magical than others. Even in my "Magic Abounds" series... Never once did Helena refer to Mischief as her familiar - - and that was on purpose. If you read the series, it's clear that he's definitely magical, and...different. Never, ever is he a familiar. Not even to the Goddess he serves.

Like all of our own cherished critters....whatever they may be...Mischief and those humans and deities around them are merely friends. And if any of our critters have a little magic mojo to them?

All the better.